Fitness when preggers

[CheeseChomper]

I'm now nearly 14 weeks and have started to feel better and have more energy, so i'd like to get back to the gym 2/3 times a week so I don't turn into a complete lard-arse (spent much of first trimester eating crap as it was all I fancied! ). I can't run at the mo anyway as buggered my knee (ligament damage) just before I found out I was expecting, so that's out of the equation.

Just wondering what any expecting gym-goers do, and what's a reasonable work out without going overboard? I went earlier on in the week and did half an hour walking on different inclines, then 10 mins on cross-trainer, followed by small arms weights and some squats with a ball.

Also, would appreciate it if anyone knows of any good pre-natal exercise DVDs I can do at home?

Hi Cheese!
What you are doing sounds great. I think be guided by how you feel and if you are experienced enough at the gym and were already a regular exerciser then you should be able to read your body pretty well. If your gym knows you well and so knows what your regular level of fitness and strength is like, then you could ask for a trainer to go through your programme with you? I stopped running at 14 weeks - it just felt REALLY horrible. So started on the reclining bike, which I'm now doing for about 35 minutes at a time. I kept up my weights with the machines (legs, lats, pecs, shoulder press), pretty much the same as pre-pregnancy, although I've had to move the seat/back rest on some of them to make things comfortable, especially in my pelvis and back. I'm now 32 weeks and have been managing to go about 3 times a week. I'm also doing ante-natal pilates, which I've found has been brilliant for maintaining whatever core strength it's possible to maintain right now, and for easing the inevitable aches and pains. I've been working with an instructor, so can't recommend a DVD. If you have a search trough other exercise related threads on here, you might come across some posts with recommendations. Although some people said they found them quite basic. If you do decide to do pilates, don't do "normal" pilates either in a class or with a DVD - some of the exercises are not suitable for pregnancy and you really need to watch things like extension with all the relaxin that's playing havoc with your ligaments.
Good luck and congratulations!

I would thoroughly recommend Aqua Natal classes, they usually take women from about 14 weeks.
I have some of the "10 minutes" DVDs for pregnancy, they are quite nice to dip into, as you can do all 5 10 min workouts, or pick a few. As you get more pregnant you will likely slow down a bit (I stopped dance training at 20 weeks, partly due to SPD but also because I was getting too tired to keep up with non-pregnant classmates) and Tara Lee's yoga for pregnancy is good.
The measure when exercising while pregnant is you should still be able to talk.

I stopped running (10K, 3 times a week)due to morning sickness at 7 weeks, and never really got back into it (DS is 2 next month , but I did pg pilates class once a week, and swam or did a decent walk most days - swam a mile 2 days before DS was born. And scaled down my mountain biking, but all my biker friends were very impressed with me still off roading at 24 weeks (unlike my mother!).

I've carried on cycling everywhere. Otherwise, I swim 40 lengths 2-3 times a week and try to get to a pregnancy Pilates class and a pregnancy yoga class every week - I'd done Pilates for years but not yoga. I did get someone at my gym who knows about fitness in pregnancy to go through a suitable programme with me, and she suggested cross-trainer, free weights and some exercises on the Swiss ball, but I had to give that up when I got SPD (cycling, mercifully, doesn't seem to make the SPD any worse, and my yoga and Pilates teachers are pretty clued up about it and tell me when I need to modify an exercise).